Statesman Journal All-Mid-Valley teams

This week, the Statesman Journal is wrapping up high school fall sports with its annual All-Mid-Valley selections. Thursday: Cross Country Today: Volleyball Saturday: Boys soccer Sunday: Girls soccer Tuesday: Football

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Certain people are made to play certain sports.

It takes time for them to find each other.

At the age of 13, Caitlin Anglemier was a tall girl who wanted to play a team sport that didn’t involve contact, at least not with others.

“That’s why I like volleyball,” she said. “You stay on your side of the net, I’ll stay on mine.”

When she contacts the ball, though, she has a devastating impact.

When the 5-foot-10 middle hitter from Blanchet Catholic School leaps and spikes the ball, most defenders have problems doing anything with it.

For the past four years, her presence certainly has been felt for the Cavaliers. For her efforts, Anglemier is the Statesman Journal All-Mid-Valley volleyball player of the year.

“It’s such a big part of my life,” Anglemier said. “And I think it has been and will be one of the best parts of my life forever and all the things that I’ve learned skillwise and about the game that I’ve learned about volleyball and in life, and the friends I’ve made and the coaches that have coached me and the relationships I’ve made.

“I think it’s one of the amazing things that’s ever happened for me in my life and one of the greatest periods of time.”

Anglemier racked up 371 kills and 147 aces this year as well as 59 blocks.

When she needed to score a point for her team, she did.

Playing middle hitter for Blanchet, she was a strong presence at the net on both sides of the game.

“I think for me one of my strongest suits is blocking, which has to do with my height again,” Anglemier said. “We’ve always been a relatively short team and I’ve always been one of the taller people, so that’s been kind of nice for me.

“I think I know blocking is kind of a hard skill and I’ve worked really, really hard on it for a number of years and I think that I’ve definitely gotten better at it with the help of my coach and coaches over the years.”

Anglemier was a first-team all-PacWest Conference selection for the second consecutive year, she was a second-team all-state tournament selection as the Cavaliers placed third in the state and she was a first-team Class 3A all-state selection as a senior.

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One of the biggest areas of improvement has been serve-receive and passing.

She had 362 digs this season, but she won’t be mistaken for a libero.

During the 3A state tournament this year, there were opponents who served at Anglemier play after play until she passed well enough that they went elsewhere with their serves.

They saw one mistake from her and tried to force her to make more.

“A lot of the time it’s like it could be easy to get really frustrated and upset that you had this horrible, awful pass and how could that happen and what the heck did you do wrong,” Anglemier said.

“Our coaches really always help us think about that play happened and now it’s done. There is nothing you can do to change it. The only thing you can do now is focus on this next ball.”

Anglemier showed proficiency in the sport early at Blanchet.

She was a varsity player in her freshman year and played on the front row of the Cavaliers’ 2A state champion team.

She had three kills and two blocks in the title game on a team filled with upperclassmen and showed flashes of what was to come.

“Honestly, playing in that match with that team is one of the best memories of my entire career, easily,” she said. “Just a wonderful group of girls.

“I had some special mentors on that team that really just kind of helped change the way I looked at the game and really helped me through the whole season.”

In Anglemier’s four years, the Cavaliers placed fourth, fifth and third in the state and won three league championships.

The team aspect has made a big impact on Anglemier.

“What I love about volleyball is really the dependency and the trust and just the greatness of the team aspect,” said Anglemier, who in the summer of 2011 was selected to USA Volleyball’s Girls Youth Continental Team Program.

“Having that group of girls behind you and that support and that family behind you all the time is one of the main things I love about it that you don’t really see in other sports

She currently is playing club volleyball for Capital City Elite’s 18 Black team, her second year on that squad.

Anglemier wants to major in international relations and possibly double major in French.

She has a number of colleges at the NAIA and NCAA Division II levels in Montana, Colorado, Utah and Texas at which she has applied and wants to play volleyball.

She’ll likely move to outside hitter — where she’s played a lot in club volleyball — or rightside hitter at the college level.

“I’ve known I wanted to play in college for a long time and so my parents are letting me play club this year and really helping me with that,” she said.

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